Monday musings: Bengals offense on record pace

The Bengals have not only matched the 1988 AFC champions with a 5-0 start, they’re on pace to break that club’s franchise record for most points by more than three touchdowns. After Sunday’s 27-24 overtime victory over the Seahawks at sold-out Paul Brown Stadium, they’re tracking for 474 points, 26 more than the offense quarterbacked by NFL MVP Boomer Esiason. The Bengals’ second-ranked offense, fourth in the NFL in scoring is also on pace to set the Cincinnati record for yards in a season with 6,742, which is 252 yards better than Esiason’s 1986 club that finished out of the playoffs at 10-6. NUGENT RISING: When Mike Nugent went boink off the left upright to win the game in overtime, it gave him 541 points as a Bengal. He needs nine more to pass Horst Muhlmann into fourth on the club’s all-time scoring list behind Doug Pelfrey (660), Shayne Graham (779) and Jim Breech (1,151). It was Nugent’s second OT winner for the Bengals and, irony of ironies, he’s headed to the place next Sunday where he got the other one, a 43-yarder in Buffalo for another 27-24 win nearly two years to the day on Oct. 13, 2013. He also had two OT kicks for the Jets. The two times the Green-Dalton Bengals have played the Bills, a Nugent field goal from 43 yards has ended both. On Oct. 2, 2011 in Andy Dalton’s second PBS start, Nugent hit at the gun for a 23-20 win that gave Dalton the first of 15 game-winning drives and ten fourth-quarter comebacks. . . Profootballfocus.com gave its punter of the week to the Cowboys’ Chris Jones even though his team got stomped. How about the Bengals’ Kevin Huber dropping one on the two, drilling a 44.2-yard net on six tries when each one mattered, and holding dangerous rookie returner Tyler Lockett to just eight yards on two returns after he came in averaging more than 11 yards? . . . Tyler Eifert is a good pick at tight end after he led all receivers Sunday with 90 yards and had two touchdowns to give him five on the season. The man he replaced, Jermaine Gresham, had a career-high six TDs in 2011. Tony McGee had a career-high six in 1997. Rodney Holman has the club record for tight ends with nine in 1989 as well as the second-best with seven in 1985 . . . According to PFF, the Bengals stayed away from targeting cornerback Richard Sherman and safety Earl Thomas and were rewarded. According to the site, safety Kam Chancellor was targeted 11 times for nine catches and 102 yards that included Eifert’s diving finger-tip grab that put them in field-goal range on the final drive in regulation, and miscommunication on Eifert’s first TD. Plus, cornerback Cary Williams allowed five catches for 73 yards on seven targets and had two penalties that allowed first downs . . . . Cornerback Leon Hall only played 13 snaps Sunday and Darqueze Dennard got his most snaps of the season replacing him with 19 in the slot in what looks to be a health issue. On the play before cornerback Adam Jones’ interception off a tipped ball by middle linebacker Rey Maualuga on the first drive of the second half, Dennard got taken to school by wide receiver Doug Baldwin. Baldwin gave him a slight deke to the inside that Dennard bit on before breaking it up field for a 46-yard-play. But Dennard did make a couple of good tackles and did a nice job as a gunner on Lockett . . . NFL Network is featuring the game on 4 p.m. Tuesday in a 90-minute program wired with live sound, unique camera angles, and interviews with players and coaches . . .